CIA warns of Al Qaeda plots as US studies Bin Laden video tape

WASHINGTON, Sep. 7, 2007 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) -- The US government said on Friday it was analyzing a copy of the latest video message from Osama bin Laden as the CIA warned Al-Qaeda was plotting fresh attacks on the United States designed to inflict massive casualties, although CNN reported that the video contained no overt threats.

US authorities were examining a video said to be a message from bin Laden marking Tuesday's anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people, a senior US official said.

'I can confirm that USG (NYSE:USG) has the video and it is currently being analyzed,' a senior administration official told AFP, referring to the US government.

The video, reported late Thursday by US-based monitors that follow militant websites, would be the first such appearance by the Saudi extremist since October 2004, when he threatened new attacks against the United States just days before a US election.

CIA Director Michael Hayden meanwhile warned in a speech that the intelligence agency believed Al-Qaeda was planning new, large-scale attacks on US targets.

'Our analysts assess with high confidence that Al-Qaeda's central leadership is planning high impact plots against the American homeland,' Hayden told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

'Al-Qaeda is focusing on targets that would produce mass casualties, dramatic destruction and significant economic aftershocks,' he added.

The Al-Qaeda network's media arm, as-Sahab, announced the purported Bin Laden video in a notice posted on jihadist forums at about 2115 GMT, according to SITE, a group which monitors extremist websites.

A website used by Islamist militants that carried the notice showed a photo of Bin Laden in which his black beard did not have the usual streaks of gray.

He was also not wearing a camouflage jacket as in some previous appearances. Instead, the top-half photo showed him wearing a white robe topped by a beige cloak, similar to the traditional dress of men in the Gulf region, and looking more like a Muslim cleric than a fighter.

The video of the soft-spoken Al-Qaeda leader, who has claimed credit for the 9/11 attacks, will be examined intently with every word and visual detail dissected by intelligence agencies in Washington and around the world.

Bin Laden has avoided capture since the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people.